ELMONT, N.Y. – Short fields in dirt races may be a fact of life nowadays, but you would never know it by the 26 runners entered in the Bertram F. Bongard and Joseph A. Gimma Stakes, a pair of seven-furlong races for 2-year-old New York-breds that each received a purse boost to $125,000 this year.
A full gate of 14 will line up for the 34th B.F. Bongard, which is carded as the fifth of 10 races Saturday at Belmont Park, and thus the lead-off leg of the pick six. Post time is 3 p.m. Eastern.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Circumstances are made to order Saturday for Kindle, a sharp front-runner who should be loose on the lead in the Grade 3 Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes at Santa Anita.
“I love the setup,” trainer Gary Mandella admitted. “Some of these horses have shown speed, but if you just go on their last race, my filly is the speed of the field.”
Nine fillies and mares entered the $100,000 Maddy, a turf sprint that Kindle and jockey Edwin Maldonado figure to control early. The challenge is maintaining control late while moving up in class.
STICKNEY, Ill. – The absence of Third Chance from the $125,000 Powerless Stakes on Saturday at Hawthorne leaves a gaping hole in the race, but there are no holes in the $125,000 Lightning Jet, which drew a field of 11 that’s deep and strong for an Illinois-bred restricted stakes race.
Stephanoatsee and Called to Serve, who each picked up small pieces of big purses in their latest outings, could play a far more prominent role in Saturday’s Barbaro Stakes for 3-year-olds at Delaware Park.
The $100,000 Barbaro, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the main track, is the richest of five stakes on an 11-race Owners Day card that begins at 1:15 p.m. Eastern.
STICKNEY, Ill. – An outbreak of equine herpesvirus at Hawthorne Race Course that has left two horses dead remained confined to a single barn as of Thursday morning, a hopeful sign that the virus has not spread into the general population at the track.
With a pair of Grade 3 stakes wins on his résumé since July, Tune Me In clearly owns a class advantage in Saturday’s $75,000 First Responder Stakes at Parx Racing. The question is whether he will show up and be able to run effectively on short rest.
Since 2008, the East Coast-based stable of George and Lori Hall and trainer Kelly Breen has regularly sent a promising 2-year-old to the small southwestern Louisiana town of Vinton with the hopes of winning the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot.
The pattern continues Saturday night as the Halls and Breen have Bern Identity for the $200,000 Jean Lafitte at Delta Downs. The one-mile race rewards its winner with first preference into the Jackpot, and Breen said Bern Identity was shipped in with the hope he will advance to that 1 1/16-mile race on Nov. 17.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer was going to enter three horses in Saturday’s $50,000-added Miss America at Golden Gate Fields. But Hollendorfer changed his mind at the last minute and entered a fourth, Halo Dolly, who will probably end up the favorite in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Two weeks before he attempts to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Ladies’ Classic for a second consecutive year, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will try to win his first Empire Classic.
Mott will send out the Juddmonte Farms-owned Lunar Victory in the $250,000 Empire Classic, the centerpiece event on Saturday’s 10-race New York Showcase Day program at Belmont Park. All 10 races are restricted to New York-breds, and there are seven stakes worth a total of $1,150,000.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After Saginaw won an overnight stakes against Lunar Victory going a mile last month, trainer David Jacobson might have been tempted to run him back Saturday in the $250,000 Empire Classic at 1 1/8 miles.
But Jacobson didn’t land atop the Belmont Park trainer standings by misplacing his horses. Instead, Jacobson opted to run Saginaw in the $150,000 Hudson Stakes at six furlongs, one of seven stakes for New York-breds on Saturday, New York Showcase Day.
